Aang
"I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I'm gonna make a difference this time." Avatar Aang Asili was a male airbender born in 12 BSC and the avatar during the century-long conflict known as the Hundred-Year-War. His immediate predecessor was Avatar Roku and his immediate successor is Avatar Korra. History Personolaty Aang was fun-loving, somewhat naive, and adventurous with a sense of humor. He possessed a deep respect for life and freedom, refused to eat meat, and was often reluctant to fight. He craved the stimulation of new people and places. His frequent off-course detours frustrated both allies and pursuers alike. He would usually want to forget his duties as the Avatar and would long for the normality that others possess. Yet Aang had always prided himself on a complex social network of friends extending over all four nations, and war did not stand in his way. In addition, he looked forward to playing with all the exotic fauna in each place he visited. Abilities AIRBENDING By the time of the Air Nomad Genocide, Aang was already an airbending master, the youngest in history. Aang achieved his mastery tattoos when he mastered thirty-five of the thirty-six tiers of airbending and invented a new airbending technique, the "air scooter". The element of air was the one he utilized the most in battle. Once Aang began to learn the other elements, for tactical purposes he relied less on airbending, though it continued to remain his signature element. WATERBENDING Although Aang was originally better at waterbending than his fourteen-year-old friend Katara, his lack of focus allowed Katara to surpass him as she was later deemed a waterbending master after rapidly developing her skills while training under Master Pakku. Katara became Aang's teacher when they took their leave of the North Pole. Aang first showed prodigious skill in waterbending, being able to easily create a huge wave on his first try. EARTHBENDING Because earthbending contrasted Aang's personality and his native element, air, he had great difficulty learning the bending art. Airbenders relied on indirect methods of combat, while earthbending required a head-on approach. When Aang was forced to protect Sokka he stood his ground rather than avoiding conflict, showing an earthbender's attitude; he was able to earthbend soon thereafter. His earthbending improved greatly, allowing him to utilize air, water and earthbending in combat together effectively. Earthbending had even become Aang's second most used fighting style behind airbending, due to its general availability. FIREBENDING While normally the Avatar must learn the four elements in the proper cycle, Aang was given the opportunity to learn firebending early from Master Jeong, instead of first mastering water and earth, in addition to his mastery of air. While training, Aang's impatience to learn the basics of firebending resulted in him harming Katara, an accident which caused him great shame. He swore from then on never to firebend again, out of fear of losing control again. It was not until after the invasion plan failed that Aang sought to learn firebending again. After accepting Prince Zuko as his teacher and discovering the true meaning of firebending from the dragons Ran and Shaw, Aang no longer feared firebending and began his training in the bending art. He was shown to be quite skilled, yet initially reluctant to show the aggressive attitude required for firebending. AVATAR SPIRIT As the Avatar, Aang also had the capacity to act as a medium, a bridge between mortal world and the Spirit World, the plane of existence where the universe's disembodied spirits dwell. Through inducing a deep meditative state, Aang could separate from his body and travel the physical world's astral plane in astral form or, with the help of a gateway, travel completely to the Spirit World. Once in the Spirit World, Aang could travel freely and communicate with beings such as Avatar Roku or Koh the Face Stealer. This position as intermediary also allowed him to channel other spirits while in the Avatar State. After receiving a letter from Guru Pathik, Aang journeyed to the Eastern Air Temple to learn to control the Avatar State. Guru Pathik revealed that the secret of entering, controlling, and leaving the Avatar State by free will laid in the 'releasing' of seven chakras. Aang had little trouble with the first six, but struggled with the seventh – earthly attachments, mainly being Aang's attachment to Katara. Aang's love for Katara, accompanied by a vivid distant vision of her in dire need of help, captured in Ba Sing Se, caused him to leave the Guru and return to Ba Sing Se. Guru Pathik stated that Aang's refusal to let Katara go had 'locked the final chakra' and disallowed him to enter the Avatar State at all. Later, however, Aang began to open the seventh and final chakra successfully and entered the Avatar State by doing just as he had been told – letting go of his feelings for Katara. However, moments after entering the Avatar State, the process was suddenly interrupted as he was struck with lightning from behind by Azula, killing him and removing him from the Avatar State, and the Avatar Spirit itself from the plane of existence. Fortunately, after their escape, Katara was able to use the special water from the Spirit Oasis to revive him. Category:Characters